What's with all these food names?
by Shashuko the Paisley Maiden
Summary: Two girls from our world end up showing up in the Avatarverse just before the first episode. They find out they aren't the only ones. no pairings, except what is shown on the show, aka 'canon' pairings, hopefully be Zutara by the end of the 3rd book


Beginning note:

I wrote this ficcy for my friend, to make her watch avatar by

explaining in this ficcy. Cream and Pepper shouldn't be sues

because they're based off real people, but if they are please

tell me. If they're sues, then I'm not portraying them right.

Also, this is actually the first three chapters combine into one,

so it's longer than the others will be. Kapiche?

Also, I don't own Avatar. AND: (parentheses is characters' thoughts,)

(a/n: is author's note) Ç«Ç§Ç‡Ç†ÇËÇ™Ç∆Ç§Ç≤Ç§Ç¥Ç¢Ç‹ÇµÇΩÅI(thanks)

Cream POV (that's me!)

I was minding my own business when it started. Okay, so I was threatening my little brother, because he wouldn't go to bed.

"Tartar!" I yelled, for in this fanfiction that is his name. "Go to bed NOW!"

Tartar, that brat, sat there grinning. "Why should I?"

My eyes narrowed into slits. I grinned evilly and wiggled my fingers at him, my arms outstretched. "Go to bed," I said calmly but darkly, "or you will face the Spirit Fingers of Doom."

My brother shuddered and ran into his room for fear of being tickled. My evil grinned returned. I love being scary.

Then, I realized that what I had just done was not very nice, so I yelled, "I'M SORRY!" through his door, which probably didn't help that much anyway.

"If you keep that up, you'll turn into Azula," said the voice of Salt, the older of my two younger sisters.

I grinned. "Then I'd be able to shoot fire from my hands! Skizzles..."

The room began to spin. A mysterious wind began to blow. Everything became blurry, but it was still spinning.

And everything was still. Absolutely still.

"That sounds like something out of Magic Tree House," I said aloud. Checking my surroundings, I realized I was on a ship at sea. I appeared to be deserted.

"What does?" said an oh-too-familiar voice behind me.

"PEPPER?!?!? Where are we? What are we doing here? What the heck is going on?" I turned around to see my friend's face. Maybe SHE knew what was going on!

Pepper looked confused. "I thought you might know," she confessed.

"Well, this stinks," I decided decidedly. "What do we do now?"

Just then, two soldiers wearing red armor with a skull on the helmet rounded the corner. The outfits looked slightly familiar. Where had I seen that outfit before?

"Stowaways!" they shouted. I realized who they were.

"PEPPER!!!" I yelled, as usual. "RUN!"

I grabbed her hand and dashed.

"Why are we running?" she yelled back.

"THOSE ARE FIRE NATION SOLDIERS! THEY CAN SHOOT FIRE AT YOU AS EASILY AS BREATHING! I THINK WE'RE IN A NICKELODEON TV SHOW!"

"That's a random idea. We could just be Travelers or something."

"They don't make armor like that on Cloral, Pepper! Think hard! Anime from Nickelodeon! Bald guy with an arrow on his head!" (a/n: if you don't know what cloral is, read the pendragon series. it's awesome.)

"Oh! You mean Ava-"

"DON'T SAY IT! Depending on which ship we are, we could be tortured, thrown into a brig, burned to death--"

I pulled myself and my friend into a random door on the ground.

"--killed, or worse!" I finished.

Another all-too-familiar voice spoke out, but it wasn't one I knew to be one from real life. "Killed, or worse? Now, why would I do a thing like that?" I spun around again and saw an old fat guy standing there. General Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of my favorite characters, in fact.

"You wouldn't happen to be stowaways, would you? We might have to throw you into the brig, but I don't think we'll have to kill you. Maybe we'll even let you out on Music Nights!"

His voice was calm and friendly, like it usually was on the show, but I was scared.

"Umm... bye!" I grabbed Pepper and ran again. For a moment I stopped and realized that I had to explain this to her eventually. Then I realized I had stopped running.

"Guards! Detain them if you must, but don't kill them!" called the old geezer. I started running again, but I ran smack dab into a wall.

A wall wearing red Fire Nation armor, a scar, and a topknot.

(Zuko's POV)

I was having a bad day. The day before was music night, so I tried to go to bed early, but my stupid uncle kept waking me up and trying to get me to play the sunghi horn, which I refused, as usual. At times like that, it's hard to believe he's the great General Iroh who held Ba Sing Se under siege for six hundred days.

I was walking down the hallway, wondering how much Azula (I hate her) was gloating that I was maimed, banished and cursed by our father. Probably as much as she could. Lucky. _She _didn't have to deal with Uncle Iroh for a teacher. She takes her lessons directly from father herself. Too bad she's my sister. Killing her would be illegal.

Anyway. I was walking down the hallway, muttering to myself like I usually do on particularly bad days, when I heard footsteps and an unfamiliar, _female_ voice saying, "Oh! you mean Ava-"

"DON'T SAY IT!" screamed another unfamiliar (and unfriendly) girl's voice as the footsteps stopped. "Depending on which ship we are, we could be tortured, thrown into a brig, burned to death--" there was a pause. The footsteps started again, but they were faster this time, "Killed, or worse!" finished the yelling voice.

"Killed, or worse?" said the voice of my uncle (I hate him too, but not as much as Azula). "Why would I do a thing like that? You wouldn't happen to be stowaways, would you? We might have to throw you into the brig, but I don't think we'll have to kill you. Maybe we'll even let you out on Music Nights!"

I mentally slapped myself. My uncle is such an idiot.

I heard the two stowaways running faster, so I quickened my pace as my stupid uncle told the guards to detain them, but not to kill them. Being so soft will be the death of him one of these days.

Suddenly, I felt something slam into me. Hard. I looked down to see that a girl, probably one of the stowaways, had run straight into me. What. An. Idiot.

She was about a head shorter than me, and was wearing a yellow shirt with a pink shirt underneath, and her pants were of a blue material I had never seen before (a/n: denim). There was another girl right behind her, wearing a shirt with a strange collar and blue, pink, and yellow stripes with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath (a/n: a polo shirt) and pants of the same blue material. Maybe, where they come from, the blue material is popular. She also had on one of those 'spectacles' things.

The thing I most noticed about them was the color of their hair. It was yellow, like the sun. Like the hair of the female Air Nomads.

The Avatar is said to be an Air Nomad and an Airbender.

"Which one of you is the Avatar?!?" I yelled at them. The one who had bumped into me, who I shall now refer to as the Clumsy one, started laughing.

"Me, the Avatar? Ha! That's hilarious! Hahahahahahaha!!!"

"What about _her _then?" I pointed to the spectacled girl.

"That's even funnier! Pepper doesn't even know what the Avatar is!!! Hahahah!"

"Maybe she is anyway!" I was elated. If that girl was really the Avatar, I would be going home soon. "What better way to protect the Avatar than to keep her in the dark?" Take that, Azula (I hate her)!!!

My uncle (he's annoying) spoke, his eyes twinkling in secret merriment. "Prince Zuko, as good as it is too see you happy for once, there is no way either of these two could be the Avatar!"

My happy balloon had just been punctured (a/n: I remembered a line from Harry Potter, for once! Whee!!!). "How so, Uncle?"

"The fortune teller said that the Avatar is a _male_ airbender. And I doubt the Avatar would be a cross-dresser!" he laughed at his little joke. (a/n: but what if he was? writing that made me imagine the real Aang in a dress).

"Oh," was all I said. Oops. "Just... throw them in the brig then. AND DON'T LET THEM OUT ON MUSIC NIGHTS!!!"

Six guards, three for each prisoner, grabbed the girls by the arms. This made the spectacled girl, Pepper, angry. First, she glared. Then, she yanked her arms out of the soldiers' grasp in such a way that all three went crashing to the ground. Third, she kicked the three soldiers holding the Clumsy girl in the head, knocking them out and loosening their grip on her friend so that she was free. Fourth, she came at me.

A fast barrage of punches came towards my face, all but one I dodged. But what a powerful one it was! It hit me in my good eye, which was a bad thing. I punched back, and soon we were fighting neck and neck, neither seeming to have an advantage over the other.

All of a sudden, she sneezed. She flew up and hit her head on the ceiling, leaving her dazed and confused when she fell back to the ground, her spectacles knocked onto the floor. She started to get up, and I blasted at her.

Uncle Iroh deflected the blow with his own fire. If he keeps this up, I'll hate as much as I hate Azula (I hate her).

"Now, Zuko," he chastised in his usual laid-back tone. "Is that any way to treat a lady?"

Pepper was shocked. The other girl, the Clumsy one, picked up Pepper's spectacles and gave them to her. She nodded her thanks.

"Wow!" said the Clumsy girl. "I didn't know you were kickbutt! Sweet na no da!!!"

Na no da ...? Isn't that a phrase from the Ancient language?

"I'm a kung-fu master," Pepper explained as she put on her spectacles.

"Whaat? You never told me!!!"

"I tried to, but you were blabbing about how hard your sports practices are and you wouldn't let me talk. I gave up eventually."

"Ha ha! Now I'll _really _be scared when you're angry!!!"

"I'm scary when I'm angry?"

"Heck yeah!" she smiled as they walked away. "I get scared that it's something _I _did!" (a/n: this is true).

The six soldiers, who had regained consciousness, grabbed them-- Clumsy girl got one, and Pepper was detained by five of them. I'm so glad I picked such smart soldiers.

They were transported to the brig. Later, I passed their cell and heard them singing in the Ancient Language of the Fire Nation:

"_Ribon wo misunde_

_waratte mitara_

_kawatta watashi ni_

_ageta ki gashi ta_

_chiisana yuuki ga_

_jishin ni naru_

_anata ni an made_

_wasurereta_

_onnanoko wa minna_

_mateki ni nareru_

_tokubetsuna mahou shitteru no_

_IT'S SHOW TIME!_

_doki doki sasete no_

_itsudemo tokimekitai no_

_ironna_

_watshih misete ageru dakara_

_motto motto sunaoni_

_afureru kono kimochi wo_

_anota ni_

_todoketai yo_

_uketotte ne_

_MY SWEET HEART!!!"_

I hate that song. Azula (I hate her) sings that sing almost every day, or at least she used to. It's been almost two and half years since I last saw her. Which only goes to show:

_There are _some_ good things about being banished, too._

I yelled at them. "SHUTTUP!!!"

"We'll urusai when you urusai," retorted the clumsy girl with a knowing grin, looking at me through the barred window of the prison's door. "Not that you'd understand. I love knowing japanese-- I mean Nihongo."

"I am the Fire Nation PRINCE!!!" I thundered. "Of course I know the ancient language if the Fire Nation!"

The Clumsy girl looked confused. "You know Japanese?"

"I don't know why you call it that, but yes." I said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, because it was.

She grinned. "So if I said you're a baka, you'd know what I meant?"

"Yes," I lied through my teeth. I hadn't paid much attention to my Ancient Language tutor. It was probably an insult, though.

"Just curious. I wouldn't call you that though, because what you are is an Akachan."

I knew what that meant! "I AM NOT!!!"

"Cream, what's an akachan?" Pepper asked the Clumsy girl, who apparently was called Cream.

"A baby," she giggled. (a/n: the real pepper already knew that, so she kicked my butt).

"That wasn't very smart to call him that. Weren't you the one who said he could shoot fire from his hands?"

Cream's eyes widened. "Oops," she said rather loudly.

Pepper then grinned. "He doesn't know French though!" she pointed at me. "Tree-shair!" (a/n: I spelled that wrong, but I don't know how!!! it means traitor.)

Cream's head disappeared from view, but I heard her giggling. "Tree-shair! Tree-shair! That is SO ironic that you called him that!"

"What did he DO?"

I walked away, fast. If the extremely rude Cream was going to tell my failure story, I wasn't going to stick around.

Pepper POV (hey that illiterates!)

My head was spinning. I was stuck in a Nickelodeon TV show, which I had only seen once and didn't really understand, in the brig on a ship of an evil prince who hated the 'Tokyo Mew Mew' japanese theme song.

I needed answers.

Cream was bugging me to record the show earlier... now I'd live through it.

"Cream." My voice was slightly angry, even though I wasn't. Aren't I evil?

"Nani?"

"Have you _seen _the show?"

"Yeah! The whole first season!!!" she bragged.

"Where are we?"

"We're on Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation's ship. He hasn't found the avatar yet, so we must be before the first episode," she whispered.

"Why are we whispering?" I whispered back.

"Because I don't want the guards to know I know..." she said, as if that explained everything. Apon seeing my confused expression, she said, "Never mind. You'll find out eventually."

She always does that.

"What's going on?" I pressed. "I have NO IDEA why we're in here!"

Cream took a deep breath and started to speak in rhythmic tones. I think she was reciting something.

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. A hundred years ago, peace reigned between the Water Tribe, the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked." She took a deep breath. "Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stand a chance of stopping them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. _Whoosh._" She made a swirling motion with her arms. "In other words, there are waterbenders, who control water, ice, or snow; firebenders, who control fire, earthbenders, who control rocks, and airbenders, who control air. I think you're one of those. This messes with the story line quite a bit, because the Avatar is supposed to be the only airbender in the world. No one knows where he is," she said, turning around to show her fingers, which were crossed behind her back. "So don't ask. I don't know." She uncrossed her fingers. "If we meet him, he might be able to teach you. Wheee na no da!"

Na no da. A phrase I recognized. Thank goodness. I slipped into Purin-speak, like Cream had. (a/n: purin or pudding is a character in tokyo Mew Mew, a sailor-moon-esque manga. she says 'na no da' at the end over ever freaking sentence. it's pretty cute. )

"I see, na no da. So, what do we do now?"

"Figure out a way to escape in the case of Prince Zuko capturing the Avatar na no da. He's looking for him, you see na no da." She started singing a Beatles tune, only the words were messed with:

_'Zuko was a prince who thought he was a loner_

_Banished for speaking out of turn_

_If he can find and catch the Avata-arr_

_They'll let him back with open arms._

_He'll get back,_

_get back,_

_get back to where he once belonged,_

_He'll GET BACK!_

_GET BACK!_

_Get back to where he once belonged,"_

The words didn't really fit the tune, but it was okay. If I knew Cream, she wouldn't stick to the parody long enough to finish it, leaving me to pick up the pieces and finish it myself. (a/n: anyone who writes the rest of this gets a cookie.)

"Hee hee. I've had that one in my head for ages. Maybe I'll write a nasty ballad about him someday, na no da." giggled Cream.

The door opened. It was the old guy, the one Zuko had referred to as 'Uncle.'

"I thought you prisoners might be hungry," he said with a grin. "I brought you some soup." He held up two bowls of a meaty-looking stew and two spoons. I narrowed my eyes, thinking of ways to escape.

He noticed. "Don't you try to escape, now," he chuckled. "I may not look it, but I'm a master firebender."

I looked at Cream, who nodded. The old guy gave us each a bowl of soup, some bread, and a spoon. I heard Zuko saw through the door as he started yelling.

"UNCLE! Stop bragging to the prisoners and teach me the next firebending set!" he said, literally spitting sparks from his mouth. Cream had a mixed look of envy, fear, and admiration on her face.

Wait. Admiration?

Oh, crap.

Something told me this was not a good sign.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Patience," the old guy told Zuko. He was so calm when this angry firebender was yelling him. It was kind of funny. Cream's cheeks puffed out and she started laughing through her nose. I think I laughed a little too.

The old guy left calmly, Zuko still yelling at him. '_Those two are pretty funny together,'_ I thought.

Cream sat down with her soup, poking at it with her spoon. "There's meat in this," she said miserably. Honestly. We were lucky the old guy was so nice. So what if she was vegetarian.

Cream realized something. Her eyes lit up.

"Pepper!" she said. "I'll trade my soup for your bread!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay." Cream's vegetarianism is annoying sometimes. I think she only became vegetarian because it makes her feel like she's better than everybody else.

Pepper bowed her head over her food for a moment, then clapped her hands together and said, "Itadakimasu!" which is what Japanese (and Fire Nation?) people say before they eat. I shrugged and just ate.

We ate in silence for awhile. Pepper was the one to break it.

"Those firebenders sure are lucky," she giggled. "It must be nice to be able to blast people who bug you. Not that I would if I was a firebender, mind you, but it would be nice knowing you _could," _she said, thoughtfully. Then, she sneezed.

Fire came out of her mouth, catching on one of the two lumpy cots. It started burning.

"FIRE!!!" Cream screamed, grabbing one of _**MY**_ bowls of soup and throwing it on the flame. It went out.

"That was YOUR cot," I said. "And I want my bread back."

Cream started laughing like a hyena (that's the only way she knows how to laugh). "I don't blame you!!!" she handed me my bread back as she continued laughing. "Man, that was ironic! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Cream stopped laughing. "Do you hear that?" she said, scared all of a sudden.

I strained my ears, but I couldn't hear anything meaningfull. Just Cream's loud breathing. "No. What is it?"

"Zuko and Iroh. Talking."

"Who's Iroh?"

"The old guy. _Shhh!"_

Ah. So that was his name.

"And?"

"Their dialogue... is the same dialogue... as in the first episode... '_The avatar is over a hundred years old! Teach me the next set NOW!'"_ she looked frantic.

"And?"

"Lines from the very first episode. Our chance out of here is in the second episode, not very long from now, but we have to figure out how to get out of our cell, like, NOW!!!" she lowered her voice so the guards couldn't hear, (why doesn't she do this more often? her normal volume level hurts my ears!) "Our chance will be when the Avatar gets on this ship and escapes. If we can somehow get out of here, we got it made." Cream did a peace sign. "I know! I'll burn the door down... but first I have to figure out how..."

"Maybe you could sneeze at it," I joked. "That was how you started the cot fire!"

"Oh." Cream looked embarrassed. _"I totally knew that!"_ she said, using a tone that made it obvious she hadn't.

She grabbed her (charred) pillow, pulled out a feather that was unburned enough to still be fluffy, and proceeded to tickle her nose. A large blast of fire promptly flew from her mouth, charring the wall, but leaving no damage to the door. She tickled herself again and again. Then she pulled out another feather and turned to me, an apologetic look on her face

"We need air power."

**Me:** Well's, that the first three chapters! BTW, I'm trying to put a song in each one, but I haven't for the first one. Sorry. If you constructive criticism of an sort, it won't take effect for a few chapters because I'm currently working on the sixth. Also, if no one reviews, I won't know if anyone likes this. I'd like at least one review per chapter, so I have some sort of motivation.

**Sokka: **That's a mouthful.

**Me:** Shut up, Sokkabaka.

**Aang:** Umm... please review!


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